Homer Clapp
Often Aner Clute at the gateRefused me the parting kiss,Saying we should be engaged before that;And just with a distant clasp of the handShe bade me good-night, as I brought her homeFrom the skating rink or the revival.No sooner did my departing footsteps die awayThan Lucius Atherton,(So I learned when Aner went to Peoria)Stole in at her window, or took her ridingBehind his spanking team of baysInto the country.The shock of it made me settle downAnd I put all the money I got from my father’s estateInto the canning factory, to get the jobOf head accountant, and lost it all.And then I knew I was one of Life’s fools,Whom only death would treat as the equalOf other men, making me feel like a man.
Words in this poem
- bade
- A form of the pat tense of Bid.
- rink n.
- The smooth and level extent of ice marked off for the game of curling. [Scot. renk, rink, rynk, a course, a race; probably fr. AS. hring a ring. See Ring.]
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- stole n.
- A long, loose garment reaching to the feet. [AS. stole, L. stola, Gr. stall. See Stall.]
- spanking a.
- Moving with a quick, lively pace, or capable of so doing; dashing.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Homer Clapp is in the public domain. This text is taken from Spoon River Anthology, Project Gutenberg ebook #1280; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Edgar Lee Masters, Homer Clapp, in Spoon River Anthology (1915), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1280, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/masters-spoon-river/homer-clapp.html, id L07791.
Form and metre
Homer Clapp is 19 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 76%). 83% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.8 syllables. 6 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 53% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic pentameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 A------------A-B-B- gateA · kiss · that · hand · home · revival · away · atherton · peoria · riding · bays · country · down · estateA · job · allB · fools · equalB · man
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Often Aner Clute at the gate | 8 | /˘······ |
| Refused me the parting kiss, | 7 | ˘/··/˘· |
| Saying we should be engaged before that; | 10 | /˘···˘/··· |
| And just with a distant clasp of the hand | 10 | ····/˘···· |
| She bade me good-night, as I brought her home | 10 | ·········· |
| From the skating rink or the revival. | 10 | ··/˘···˘/˘ |
| No sooner did my departing footsteps die away | 13 | ·/˘··˘/˘/··˘/ |
| Than Lucius Atherton, | 6 | ·/˘/˘˘ |
| (So I learned when Aner went to Peoria) | 12 | ········˘/˘˘ |
| Stole in at her window, or took her riding | 11 | ····/˘···/˘ |
| Behind his spanking team of bays | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Into the country. | 5 | ···/˘ |
| The shock of it made me settle down | 9 | ······/˘· |
| And I put all the money I got from my father’s estate | 15 | ·····/˘····/˘˘/ |
| Into the canning factory, to get the job | 12 | ···/˘/˘˘···· |
| Of head accountant, and lost it all. | 9 | ··˘/˘···· |
| And then I knew I was one of Life’s fools, | 10 | ·········· |
| Whom only death would treat as the equal | 10 | ·/˘·····/˘ |
| Of other men, making me feel like a man. | 11 | ·/˘·/˘····· |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.